Although Mette Ivie Harrison’s fifth Linda Wallheim mystery doesn’t have much mystery to it, The Prodigal Daughter may be more realistic with a more believable ending than many mysteries. When an amateur sleuth gets involved because a story affects them emotionally, everything may not turn out perfectly for everyone involved.

Kurt and Linda Wallheim are in marriage therapy, again. Kurt’s a bishop in their local ward in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Linda, on the other hand, has raised their five sons, and she questions the authority of the men in the Mormon church, a church that seems to have no role for women once the children are raised. Kurt’s hand-picked therapist allows him to rant, while Linda just listens as he talks about how she’s changed.

So, she’s eager to escape when their son, Joseph, calls, asking for her help. His fifteen-year-old babysitter, Sabrina Jensen, has disappeared, and he wants Linda to talk with her parents. Linda senses there’s something more than what she’s hearing from Mrs. Jensen. With a list of Sabrina’s friends in hand, she goes house to house, only to learn Sabrina changed several months earlier, and the Mormon teens are no longer friends. Instead, she turned to several teens who are not members of the church. Those teens tell Linda the truth. Sabrina was ostracized first for not making a choice between two boys, and then the boys followed up by raping her, and encouraging six others to gang rape her.

Linda Wallheim is not prepared for that story, nor the list of names involved. She doesn’t know how to handle it. She reacts by tracking Sabrina, finding her with a group of homeless teens, and inviting her home. Linda tries to make Sabrina feel at home with Christmas cookies and candies, presents, and new clothes. But, Sabrina is actually the realistic one, more so than Linda. She knows she can’t live there forever. Linda and Kurt are actually sheltering a runaway. And, Sabrina believes the Mormon leaders will not do anything to help a teenage girl when the church focus is on young men who will go on future missions. Sabrina’s search for justice really only comes as a surprise to Linda.

While I haven’t spoiled the book for anyone, this book about sexual assault, teen runaways and homelessness, addresses issues more realistically than many books do. One woman on her own crusade to save one teen is not going to change the situation. And, Linda’s crusade to help one child is not going to change her views of the male-dominated church. Actually, The Prodigal Daughter, even with its Christmas scene at the Wallheims, is a sad book. If a mystery is about questioning faith and man, then The Prodigal Daughter is a mystery. Otherwise, it’s a story that can only end in tragedy.

Mette Ivie Harrison’s website is http://metteivieharrison.com/

The Prodigal Daughter by Mette Ivie Harrison. Soho Press, 2021. ISBN 9781641292450 (hardcover), 264p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a .PDF to review for a journal.